Semana Santa!!

Well, Happy Easter to all! The easter bunny missed me down here though, oh well, life goes on. So, basically since I arrived here in Guatemala, it seems the whole country has been preparing for Semana Santa. I wonder what they will do now that it is over? I went with my friend Alicia to nearby Lago Atitlan for the weekend. We spent a couple of nights with a few past ICA friends (who now have a house in Panajachel while they work at a nearby nature reserve) and then another couple of nights across the Lake at a town called Santiago, soaking in the culmination of Semana Santa.

First, Panajachel.
Pana is a VERY touristy town and has a large population of American Ex-pats along with Guatemalan hippies. It was actually a bit of a strange place for me, largely because so many of the tourists weren´t extranjeros--they were Guatemalans. Apparently the lake is a popular getaway for people from the capital and is almost a the spring break location for a lot of the college students here in Xela. It was definitley strange to me how easy it was to pick out the local tourists-I mean, foreigners are easy, they usually are caring a backpack and have very white skin...but almost the only difference between the extranjeros and the locals were the lack of a backpack. I can´t quite explain how strange this was to me. Most of Guatemalan tourists were very light skinned, carried around digital cameras and were wearing ¨Panajachel¨shirts purchased on the main street so as to better remember their trip once they returned home. I mean, I know one of the problems facing Guatemala is the intense estrangement of the Mayan population (that counts for nearly 50% of the population here) but something about this weekend really drove in the fact that there are clearly two different groups here. Extranjeros aren´t the only people in the country that come from privelage--the Mayan women on the streets targeted all tourists equally as possibly being interested in a traditional Mayan shawl or bracelet. Anyway, enough of that. I´m not sure I explained that well, but it was definitely something that made Pana very strange to me--I think especially because I spent two days across the lake in Santiago where almost the entire population is Mayan and many people there don´t speak Spanish, only the local Mayan dialect. Something about that contrast really hit home.

So, we spent Wed. in Pana and then came back early Saturday morning from Santiago and went to the Nature reserve with our two friends Nieka and Davy. It was a gorgeous little area, although in reality not a very large reserve. We did walk around though and took a ride on the zip-line, which was absolutely gorgeous and way worth the few extra Quetzals. I mean really, how often does one get to fly through the air overlooking a beautiful natural lake surrounded by three volcanos in Guatemala?

Santiago:
So, the Semana Santa celebrations...as I mentioned before, Santiago is nearly entirely Mayan and it was the first place I´ve been where almost all the men also wear traditional clothing, which was quite neat. We stayed both Thursday and Friday night, periodically walking around town to see what new developments had occured next to the Catholic church. We sort of accidentally ended up sitting through a 2 hour Mass Thursday afternoon. We went in to look at the church after lunch and figured all the people pouring in just had something to do with the special weekend, after a few minutes though, we were pretty much trapped in the center of the church watching mass begin...I couldn´t understand most of what went on, partly because half of the service was in Mayan (I can´t remember how to spell the local dialect, I think Tju-something). It was definitley me and Alicia (and a few other unsuspecting extranjeros) sticking up above the Mayan congretaion..
The main stuff happened on Friday. All around town the locals had constructed these gates decorated with pine needles and fruit and starting Friday morning began constructing these elaborate alofombras (carpets on the street made of sand or something like that depicting different images) on the path outlined by these gates. This work went on all day and the results where incredible. At three in the afternoon, the procession began at the church where a very large...I´m not sure how to describe it, maybe a casket with Jesus in it? began being carried through town. This procession started at three and ended at 6 AM Saturday morning. Very slow moving...But, they just marched over the alofombras that had taken all day to construct and a crowd of people followed the procession all through the night...
Ok, I think I am getting a little burned out on typing, so you are probably getting a little burned out on reading. Anyway, I´m sure I missed a ton like always, but it is imposible to include everything!